Poké Wars: Victory Road
by violet604
Summary: Nida lifted the mound of earth, and laid the woman inside the gap. The child next to her said nothing as the earth fell. Where do we go now, Melina? Nida thought. The land is dead, too. Based in and thanks to Cornova's Poké Wars Universe.
1. Wish You Were Here

**Wish You Were Here**

ADR 007 Summer

The crags of Grampa Canyon glowed with the birth of sunrise, their rough surfaces like hot coals in the darkness. Light inched across the canyon's inner valley, a curtain that slowly revealed red, yellow, and orange rock. The surface was practically devoid of life, except for one napping Nidoqueen's exposed back, protecting the entrance to her burrow. The sun's warmth was comforting, the same sun as it had always been. It was everything else that had changed. She chose to ignore that fact. For a moment, she was a little Nidoran again, pushed up against her trainer Melina's belly in the woods. In her mind, they were traveling through Kanto together, and she'd just won her a badge. Her mind then fast-forwarded, and she was safe at home with Melina and her husband in Neon Town, watching Melina's little baby blow bubbles. The world was still a child's playground, a place for their adventures. Wild Pokémon and humans didn't hate each other, kill each other, and she hadn't been living in this canyon for seven years.

But small cries from the burrow jolted her from the fantasy.

Reality was calling. On a summer night seven years ago, she and all other Pokémon had awoken to a strange sickness, writhing in pain until they blacked out. They'd awoken with power they couldn't control, fires burning, voices telling them to kill, running for their lives as wild Pokémon attacked humans in a purging bloodbath. They'd run from the fires, the voices, the Pokémon with blood spattered on their mouths, the cries of death. Somehow, they'd found this place, decided to hide, to wait until it was over. It was never over.

Seven years of keeping Melina alive in this desolate place.

In a matter of minutes, she was gone.

The nidoqueen shifted in the burrow's entrance, loosening herself from being wedged in the rock. It gave way, and she allowed sunlight to filter into the little cave she had created when they'd first escaped. She had drilled out benches and stocked it with small chests of food and supplies. In the center, there was an old mattress with faded red sheets that were now in a little cocoon. She crawled into the burrow and sat next to the mattress, poking it with her foot.

"Maya, it's morning," she said. Her voice was a low, raspy grumble, but tender. The sheets tightened into an even smaller ball. She poked it gently. "Maya?"

"I don't want to come out, Nida," the ball said.

Nida poked the ball again. "You're going to have to come out eventually," she said.

"I'm never coming out," the ball whispered.

Nida rested her paw at one end of the ball, stroking it. "What would momma think? Hmm?"

"Momma wouldn't have gone away," the ball said. It moved completely off the mattress, curling up against a wall. "She left me, so I don't care."

The nidoqueen picked it up and cradled it in her lap, pulling back the layers. The child inside was seven years old, but she looked five, with a tiny frame and eyes like teacups. Using the sheets, Nida rubbed the girl's face clean, as her little hands clung to Nida's arm. She looked into Maya's eyes, two colored drops of water.

She took a deep breath and said, "Maya, Melina did not leave us."

"Yes she did! She left just like Growlithe and Bulba and everyone," Maya said.

"No, Maya, she didn't," Nida said. "Melina…momma, she died," the words dried out her throat, constricting it. Nida shook, her back prickling, her ears low. "She got very sick and she died." Nida was paralyzed, staring at this still and silent child, waiting. _Doesn't she understand? It's not like this is the first time._

"Why, Nida? Why?" She started pounding her fists against the Nidoqueen's breastplate, though Nida barely felt it. "Tell me why!" Maya thrashed and screamed, crying for Melina, all the while Nida making hushing sounds frantically, dripping tears into the girl's hair.

"Stop, Maya. Please?" She wrapped her arms around Maya's torso, enveloping her in warm scales, bowing her head. "Please?" The cries turned into slow whimpers, and so Nida rocked her, held her, knowing it wasn't the same as Melina's touch.

_I raised her_, she thought. _No,_ she corrected herself, _I _helped_ raise her, and she can't just be left alone. But I'm not going to be enough, she needs people. Humans._ The words circled around and around in Nida's head. _She needs humans. _

"Maya, I need you to listen carefully," Nida said. Maya pushed up against Nida's belly, shaking her head no against it.

"We're going to have to leave," Nida said.

The shaking head popped up. "What? When?"

"Today."

Nida put Maya down, and began to pack all of the things she had collected for them over

the years: a spare change of clothes, cooking equipment, and other effects from destroyed and forgotten cities nearby. From the cooler, she piled the remaining berries and seeds they'd collected, a few pieces of game meat, and three cans of poké food. She had never actually taken Melina or Maya into these destroyed places or to search for food, even when Melina's other Pokémon were still alive to help her protect them. Maya had never been more than a mile from the burrow. She'd had no reason to risk it before.

"Where are we going?" she said.

"Get dressed, Maya. Now." The girl jumped to obey. Within a half hour, they'd

gotten the essentials packed up, and Nida sat on the mattress, looking over a map of the Kanto region they had salvaged their first year. It was almost illegible, smudged and in pieces. Maya walked around the burrow, brushing her hand over the carved benches. She stopped suddenly, rushing to her crate.

"Nida, Nida, what about the story books?" There were two, slightly charred, with pictures of trees, houses, and people, things Maya had never seen, only dreamed about.

"We have to carry only the essentials, Maya," Nida said, focused on the map.

Maya clutched her books tighter. "I'll carry them," she said.

Nida got up and put her paws on Maya's shoulders. "Where we're going, there'll be lots

of story books for you to look at."

The child's face broke into smiles. "Really?"

Fissures snaked through Nida's heart. She nodded, desperately hoping she was right. Maya held her books close for a moment longer, and then put them back in the crate. They put on their backpacks, and walked into the shimmering heat of the canyon. The nidoqueen closed up the burrow with a boulder she had found, and pushed sand and rocks around the edges, until they couldn't see it anymore. Heart racing amidst the calm around them, she grabbed Maya's hand and led her away.

Within a half hour they had reached the edge of Grampa Canyon. There was nothing around them to signal the change, save a broken sign with the faded words, "Route 15, Forest Path." Maya ran ahead to the sign, picking up broken splinters of wood.

"Nida," she called, pointed to the sign, "This says, 'Forest', right?"

"Yes," Nida sighed.

"Where is it?"

Nida had been on this route before, but it was like seeing it anew with Maya there. She

had become numb to it, but now she felt, all too clearly, the dead earth around them. Not a tree stood, the ground devoid of grass. The dirt had turned a malignant, ashy color, mixed with windblown sand. It kicked up around them and into their faces. Maya dropped the sign, covering her eyes with her arms. Nida shielded the girl with her girth, and wrapped a rag around Maya's head, over her nose and mouth.

"Everything ok?" She rumbled over the wind. The girl nodded, puffing out her chest.

They pressed on, past the sign, seeing only arid flatland for miles, no path left to guide them. Here and there, a weed stuck out, flailing against the wind. Cracks deeper and longer than Onix wound through the landscape. Tremors shook the ground, which Nida knew meant the remaining ground and rock Pokémon were tunneling, trying to revive the place with artificial springs. They'd been at it for four years with little to show for it.

After a few miles, the two travelers met a patch of black, charred spikes shooting from the ash. They were fifty to a hundred feet tall, but their edges crumbled as they approached. Nida began to walk around the little patch, but Maya stopped before their height, awestruck. The nidoqueen snatched the girl up around the middle and hoisted her onto her shoulders, but Maya squirmed to look back at the spikes.

"We need to keep moving," Nida said. They only had so much time before dark.

"Nida, were those trees?" Maya said, wide eyes watching the spikes.

"Not anymore," Nida said.

"Wow," the girl exhaled.

Nida's eyes closed, feeling the soft skin of Maya's legs as she dangled over her.

Suddenly, the girl twisted up to sit on Nida's towering shoulder.

"Nida? Are we the only ones here?" she said. Nida remained silent. "Are we?"

"I don't know for sure," she said finally.

Maya thrust her arms out and into the ashy wind. "I'm queen of the world!" she shouted, scoping out the wasteland. She tumbled off Nida's shoulder. Nida froze, but the girl jumped up immediately, laughing.

"See? No one said I'm not, so I must be queen," she laughed. Nida tried to smile. "And you're a queen, too, Nida."

The nidoqueen circled around, trying to see something, a bush, a Pokémon, something left of the forest that she remembered. _Queens of what_, she thought.

It was mid-afternoon, and they were still surrounded by wasteland. The terrain, however, was no longer flat, but carved into huge trenches and mounds of gravel, an old battlefield of sorts. It had happened three years ago. The bug, grass, flying, and ground Pokémon had banded together against the fire and electric types, and the battle raged, growing and growing, covering more and more land in the fray. Nida could only watch the slaughter from a distance, or else be noticed and intimidated into fighting for a side. For two days, she watched, unable to turn away. When the smoke and stun spore cleared, the dead Pokémon outnumbered the living, and having the same type didn't matter anymore. Every other species was an enemy, something that would either take your home for itself, or destroy it. She had secretly grabbed a few edible carcasses and walked home, hoping that this wasn't the whole region, that they just lived in a terrible place. She held on to that hope even now, as they walked through the aftermath.

Now, neither plants nor Pokémon could live here, the land uprooted and burned as it was. It was a lonely place, with high hills and low holes that cast certain areas in endless shade, whatever time of day, almost like torrential waves caught mid-crash. Gray clouds had overtaken the sky, changing everything into even duller hues. At least here, she was sure they would be left alone. She decided they would rest.

"Why don't we eat this meat before it spoils?" Nida said, pulling it out of its careful wrappings. Maya's head bobbed in agreement. They pulled out a pan and some dead shrub branches they'd picked up along the way. Letting a tiny thunderbolt escape from her hand, she set the wood on fire, and stomped it out as soon as the food was cooked. They ate their meat with chesto and nutpea berries, drinking water from a cracked mug hung from a backpack strap. Maya brought the mug to her lips, drinking greedily.

The earth suddenly shook.

Nida's scales bristled, paws outstretched for an attack. Sandslash? Or worse, Onix? Her head turned this way and that. Not here, not now. _This land is supposed to be dead_.

The tremors stopped, and the world was quiet, but Nida remained poised. She scanned the space around them, waiting. Sputters and coughs interrupted her, Maya choking on the water, her face and bangs dripping. Nida calmed, a rumbling laugh tumbling out of her, turning Maya's cheeks red.

"Quit it!" she said between coughs. She hid her face behind the mug.

At that moment, the clouds darkened, and it began to rain in sheets. Drenched, they scrambled to get their things together, Nida pulling out a plastic tarp to cover them. She brought Maya close and curled into a mass around her, Maya's head resting on her breastplate. The girl curled up as well in the little space.  
"Nida? Are we gonna get to see Pokémon?" Maya said. The nidoqueen bit her tongue.

"Uh, maybe," she said, "But I think they just want to be left alone."

"Oh," Maya said. "Where are they? And the trees, and the flowers?"

"We'll see them soon," Nida said. With another rag between two claws, she dried off the child's arms and legs, and squeezed the water out of her dress. The girl's eyelids started to close.

"Promise?" It was a whisper, and Maya didn't wait for a response. She was asleep.

"Promise," Nida said.

The rain pattered on for hours, filling their encampment with puddles. Their gray tarp made the nidoqueen's mass look like an ordinary boulder. The wave-like mound had also created a cover to avoid the water, so Nida decided to wait it out. As the sky darkened into night, she fell asleep.

* * *

The howls of the wind and skittering of the ash woke her constantly, but no Pokémon made an appearance. Nida was grateful. Their loneliness meant their safety until they could find humans; hopefully, they were just beyond the bridge she'd seen in Fuchsia City a few years ago. The city had been completely desolate then. Now wild Pokémon fought to claim it as territory, destroying the rows of buildings in the process. If they could just skirt around it and get to the bridge entrance from the hills, they'd be home free. At least, Maya would be. That would be enough for Nida. She pushed her jaw deeper into the scorched dirt, trying to relax. Eventually, the sun peeped into the crack between the tarp and the floor, and she was wide awake.

"Maya," she whispered, "It's morning." Maya yawned big, sat up, and then fell back onto Nida's breastplate.

"It's too bright, Nida," she whined, "Close up the burrow again." When the nidoqueen didn't move, the girl was jolted awake, her eyes saucers.

"We're not in the burrow," she said.

"No, Maya, we're going to find people," Nida said.

"It wasn't a dream, we're really out here," Maya said. "Momma's gone."

"Yes, I'm afraid she is," Nida said, picking up their things.

Nida folded the tarp, watching Maya carefully. The child looked at the ground, folded her legs into her chest, and stayed that way, completely silent. She didn't even look at the nidoqueen as Nida tossed a wrinkly leppa berry at Maya. _What is there left to say_, Nida thought, _I can't keep coddling her. I know it's hard, but I'm hurting, too. She has to grow up if we're going to survive, right?_

Nida and Maya set off, and by the time the sun had gotten to its highest point in the sky, they'd covered another eight miles. They'd passed the first battlefield and were back to arid flatland. Once populated by trees, the land was only ash and small, random hills dotting the horizon. At the farthest corner of that horizon, a grey mass jutted from the flatland. Fuchsia City. Clouds of smoke billowed around it, blurring out the sky, but tiny patches of green, the first green they'd seen, sat at its base. It was a withered, almost brown green, but it was green. They were almost there.

"You see that, Maya?" Nida pointed. "It's a city."

Maya shaded her eyes with her hands. "That little thing?" she said.

"Yes, yes, do you see the-" There was a crash.

Nida's ears pricked like a Houndoom's at the noise.

Far off to the northeast.

Dodrio? Rhydon? Tauros?

She didn't want to find out. She charged into Maya, scooping her up in mid-run.

She had to get them away, far away.

Her thoughts raced.

_Don't look back. _

_Run. _

She glanced back, anyway.

The dirt was kicking up in the distance.

The earth trembled.

A black presence in the distance, growing larger.

Closing in.

"Nida? Nida!" Maya hollered, but the nidoqueen kept running, her scales rising, her spikes already oozing poison in anticipation, her bounds creating tremors of their own. Her pounding, rushing heart drowned everything out.

"Nida!" Maya screamed.

Nida unleashed a deafening roar, shaking the earth, scattering the sand around them.

"MAYA, SHUT UP!" she roared.

The threat was gone as quick as it had come, like a banished spirit. She skidded to a stop. Maya fell off and backed away. The world was completely still. Silence blanketed them, broken only by Nida's huffs as she tried to catch her breath.

"Are you ok?" she said between breaths. "You're not hurt?" It was then that Nida saw Maya's face. She was pushed up against a mound of upturned sand, trembling. Tears were growing like wildflowers in her eyes. Scratches adorned her knees and elbows from where she'd fallen. Her mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out.

"Maya…" Nida took a step forward, and Maya's arms shot up over her head. "Maya, I... I'm not going to hurt you," she begged. "You know that, right? Right? Maya, say something. Please. Please!"

The girl shook her head, and closed her eyes.


	2. Misguided

The child sat there, shaking, unable to open her eyes. Nida's knees buckled, and she scooted towards her.

"Maya, sweetie, you're being silly," Nida cooed, her voice wavering, "It's Nida, honey. I take care of you."

Slowly, the girl opened her eyes, but just a squint. "Why were you so loud? You never scream at me," Maya said, choking on tears. It's beginning, Nida thought, just get it over with.

"Maya, look at me." She grabbed the girl around the middle, the child flailing in protest, hitting her tough, scaly arms and flinching. Nida waited patiently for her to calm down. As Maya turned her eyes to the nidoqueen's, Nida tried to keep her voice steady.

"The Pokémon out here are not like Bulba, or Growl, or any of our friends. A lot of them want to hurt you," Nida said.

"What?" she whispered.

"Many will want to kill you, so you have to run away." Nida could see she didn't understand. "Run away, Maya do you understand? I need to protect you, your mom told me to…to protect you. So…so I have to, okay?"

"Nida…" The girl's small hands touched Nida's eyes, closing them. "It's ok. I take care of you, too."

The nidoqueen wrapped her arms around the girl, feeling the soft, fragile skin she loved so much, the tiny pressure of Maya hugging back. "So, when I need us to be safe, you have to trust me, even though you're scared. Can you do that?"

Maya nodded against Nida's face.

"Then let's go." Nida put the girl down, grabbed her hand, and they started off again at a brisk pace, having strayed from the path for a few miles. They were within five miles of city limits by nightfall, so Nida dug Maya a quick burrow to rest in. Rather than let her poison-laced hide do the protecting for her, she stayed up and guarded the entrance. She told herself it was to look out for nocturnal Pokémon, but she just couldn't sleep.

She had no plan, because she didn't know what she would do when they finally met humans. The stories she'd heard made her needles stand up: tall men with black, shiny masks and armor, holding guns. You can't see their faces, can't look into their eyes. They say you die before you get that close. No Pokemon she'd met had seen a woman or child in years, but they had to be reproducing somehow, somewhere far away from the barrenness of Kanto. Somewhere green, she thought, with fields of crops and clear, blue water, somewhere beautiful like that. The image made her smile. She nestled within the burrow and closed her eyes.

"Aaaeeeeeeee!"

Nida jumped to her feet, banging her head against the burrow's ceiling.

"Aaaeeeeeeeeeooooaheeheeheehe e," the shriek fell into a high-pitched giggle, and a Misdreavus materialized in the burrow's entrance. "Oh, that face is priceless!" She began bobbing up and down around the nidoqueen, bringing a chill that made Nida's scales stand on end.

Nida tried to bat the misdreavus away, but the ghost Pokémon bobbed away in the air, circling her.

"Oooo, sharp spikes," the misdreavus said, "Poison, very nice." She flew into Nida's back and pretended to get stabbed by the spikes in dramatic slow motion.

"Get out, shoo! You'll scare Maya," Nida said.

"Oh no," the misdreavus said, "That scare was delicious, I'm full." It giggled again, bobbing just out of Nida's grasp. "But where'd you get the kid?" The pokémon flew upside down to Maya, who was somehow still asleep. It peered at her with big yellow eyes. "This place hasn't seen a human in years."

Nida caught the flapping edge of the Misdreavus at that moment.

"Oooo, I've been caught!" it sang, giggling again. The misdreavus wrapped its hair around Nida's forearm and pulled itself onto her shoulder.

"Be quiet, you'll wake Maya," Nida said again.

The misdreavus sat there quietly, its red orb glowing like the cheek of a human who's had too much wine. It was a relatively small misdreavus, and its ghostly chill had become a cool breeze against Nida's face now that it was full and harmless. "So whatcha doing in Fuschia City?" it said.

"None of your concern, ghost," Nida spat.

"Aaaaaeeeeeeeeoo," the Misdreavus wailed.

Nida's paws went to her ears. "Keep it down!"

"But you can just call me Dree, dirt-walker," the Misdreavus said contentedly. Dree made a loop in the air.

"What?" Nida said.

"My name is not 'ghost', it's Aaaaaeeeeeeeeoo… or Dree," Dree explained, circling around Nida's head. "So, what do the dirt-walkers call you?"

She sighed, closing her eyes. "Nida."

"And the little squeak?" Dree pointed to Maya, her hair curling happily.

"Ha!" Nida snatched the misdreavus from her flight a second time, the pokémon going limp again and swaying like a hypnotizing pocket watch.

"Oooo, catch number two! I've never been caught twice before," she giggled, and then phased out of Nida's grasp. "I'm going to make you a deal, then, Neee-da."

"You'll let us be?" Nida said sarcastically. Dree pouted as her hair crossed in front of her like arms.

"No fun! No, no, no, I can tell you're headed somewhere, and I know _everything_ about this place. You let me snack on her," Dree pointed to Maya with a lock of hair, "and I'll take you wherever you wanna go."

"Over my dead body," Nida whispered, moving to protect Maya.

The misdreavus flew backwards, her mouth agape, a tendril of hair over her center stone. "I would never! What do you take me for, a Gengar?"

Nida did not budge.

"Humans don't come around anymore, Neeeda," Dree said, "Sure, screams of Poké-terror are fine for survival, but it's like eating berries, never tasting meat. There's a human filet mignon in front of me, and I want to scare her out of her skin!" Dree burst into laughter, bouncing off the walls of the burrow.

Nida watched her closely. "So why don't you?" she growled. She walked away from Maya, her eyes still trained on the pokémon. "It's not like I can stop a ghost."

Dree stopped laughing, and twisted to hover upside down. "I don't know why," she phased through Nida to look directly at Maya, "Something about her, like there's this feeling deep in my stones not to bother her."

"You should listen to it," Nida deadpanned.

Dree flew inches from Maya's face, peering into it. Nida started to say something, but Dree cocked her head to one side as Maya stirred.

Red marks covered her face from sleeping on the tarp's wrinkles, and a bit of drool was on the corners of her mouth. The girl, still drowsy, lifted her head to unknowingly touch Dree's face with her nose.

Painfully slowly, she began to realize her situation, staring straight into the blood red eyes of a black ghost pokémon. She began to cry a Whismur's cry, shrill and incessant. She covered her own ears at the noise, closing her eyes, screaming and screaming at Dree. Dree floated there, quietly listening to the scream, not moving as Nida ran over to the child.

"Maya! Stop it right now, you'll get us killed!"

Maya was screaming and crying now, still rooted to the spot directly in front of Dree.

Nida kneeled next to Maya and smothered her between her plates, trying to calm her, making hushing sounds. "Are you happy now?" she said to Dree, "Just go away, we don't need you!"

Dree still floated there, watching Maya scream and cry, her hair fidgeting with the flaps at the bottom of her body. She turned, tried to stare at the wall of the burrow, turned back, fidgeted. Finally, she floated to a rock next to Maya, and cautiously put a lock of hair on Maya's head. Maya stopped screaming.

"I don't wanna die," the girl sobbed. Nida rubbed the girl's arms with her paws.

"It's ok," Dree whispered. "You don't have to be afraid." All the color drained from Dree's face, leaving it a dull gray. She drifted to the ground.

Maya breathed deep and opened her eyes to look at the ghost, "Why?"

"I'm…I'm not going to scare you," Dree said. Her cheeks grew white, like rice paper, and her eyes drooped.

"What's wrong, ghost?" Nida said.

Dree's hair flew to her mouth. "I think I'm going to be sick…" The misdreavus disappeared, and tiny retching sounds came from outside the burrow. She drifted back moments later, tiny bits of ectoplasm splattered on her chin.

"Is she gonna die?" Maya said, eyes wide as saucers.

Dree moaned like a drunk with a hangover. Her hair wrapped over her stone as she hovered sideways on a rock. "Ghosts…don't…die…" she whined.

"What happened to you?" Nida asked.

"Too full, too much fear, too much everything…" she moaned. "But… it was worth it, Squeak."

"Her name's Maya," Nida said. She took a backpack and put it under Dree's head.

"Well," she said, lifting her arm half-heartedly as if holding a sword, "I dub her Squeak." She started murmuring nonsense as the black returned to her cheeks.

"Nida, is that true?" Maya tugged on Nida's arm, "Do ghosts never die?"

Nida scowled. "I don't know." She looked over to Dree. "Well, can you?" But Dree was fast asleep, making small snores that sounded like trees creaking.

"Let's just go to sleep, too, Nida," Maya said. Realizing that keeping guard wasn't going to help, Nida tucked Maya back into her tarp blanket. She sat at the mouth of the cave, needles facing the rest of the world. It was already the wee hours of the morning, and with three sleepless nights behind her, it didn't take long for Nida to pass out where she sat.

* * *

When Nida finally opened her eyes again, the sun was frying her backside a malignant shade of purple. She backed out of their makeshift burrow into the dry heat, the flat surface of the land shining the sunlight back into the sky. It beamed into her eyes, blinding her out of sleepiness, and she escaped into the burrow. It was cool and shady, but not the unnerving cold she expected. Dree was gone.

_After all that_… Nida shook her head and woke Maya, who on instinct wrapped her arms and legs around the nidoqueen. She'd done it since she was a baby, so Nida had no problem hoisting Maya up into her arms.

"We're almost there, Maya, so get your clothes on," Nida said into her ear.

"Where's Dree?" Maya mumbled.

"She left," Nida said quietly.

The girl pushed out of the embrace. "What? Why?" She searched Nida's eyes, but all that was there was acceptance she couldn't comprehend.

"She got her fill. She ate our fear, and then left. That's the end of it." Nida put Maya down. "I told you not to trust the Pokémon out here. Now go put on fresh clothes."

Maya looked at her, at the ground for a while, and then silently did as she was told. Within moments they were out in the heat of day, walking closer and closer to the city limits. As they approached, the buildings, once shiny mirages, transformed to dull, crumbling tombstones, decaying with the wind's touch. They began to feel rumbling underneath them that came and went. They heard crashes and groans from the city center. To their left, rolling hills flanked the city, obscuring the ocean Nida prayed was on the other side. Thin, dried up roots of burned down, modern landscaping snaked across the ground, and as the sun reached the center of the sky, they stepped onto concrete. Nida gently pulled Maya towards the hills.

"Wait, aren't we going into the city?" Maya said, pointing into the crumbling ghost town.

"Of course not. It's dangerous in there, we're taking the long way. Come on." Nida tugged, but the girl didn't budge.

"I'm not scared," Maya huffed.

"It doesn't matter. We're taking the safe route, and that's that." Nida picked Maya up and put her on her shoulders.

"But I want to see a city!" Maya whined.

"Look, see? It's there. Now you've seen one." Nida stomped towards the hills, bumping Maya up and down on her shoulders.

"Dree wouldn't have been scared," Maya said, holding on to Nida's ears.

"Dree is gone," Nida said.

"Yeah…" Maya sighed heavily, pressing her cheek into one ear. They started to climb the first hill.

"I leave for two hours and I'm already the bad guy?" A floating ball of hair lands on Nida's forehead, its bright red eyes smirking.


	3. End of the Road

The suspension beams of the Cycling Bridge stood like lonely church spires against the horizon, shining silver and black against the red-orange sky. As Nida, Maya, and Dree climbed the last hill, the spires slowly ascended into vision, growing in height with the accelerated thumping of Nida's heart. Their metal gleamed in the dying sunlight, sending bright flashes into her eyes as Nida trudged to the top.

"It's the ocean!" Maya gasped from her perch on Nida's shoulders.

"We're almost there, almost there." Her head remained down, watching her footing over the uneven terrain.

"It's beautiful, Nida." Maya said.

"Yes, yes it-" Nida's head lifted, and she stopped short. Massive chunks of concrete littered the beach, faint hints of moss and seaweed overtaking them. Heavy metal cord tangled and creaked in the wind. The spires were naked, stripped of their purpose, like deserters of a no man's land. Nida crumpled.

"Nida, Nida, is that the beach? Can I go play?" Maya squealed, tugging on Nida's ear.

Nida's eyes watered, but she kept her voice from trembling. "Uh, yeah, yeah, go ahead. Um, Dree, go with her." Maya was let down, and immediately bolted for the sand.

Dree followed, leaving Nida to stare at the bridge without actually seeing it. She saw instead her dream bridge, gleaming and whole and waiting for them. She could hear voices calling to her, calling to take Maya away to a place where the trees bend in the wind, green and heavy with fruit, and the rivers rush by with silvery fish whizzing past. But far off on the other side of the bay, the tiny strip of land was the same brownish-grey, debris overrunning its shore to create a jagged edge, grey teeth slowly devouring the sea. So Nida sat, watching the waves lick at her own shore. She heard Maya's delighted cries as she splashed about, but the sound taunted her, laughed at her just beyond the reach of her claws. The sound of waves blended in, creating a soothing rhythm behind the melody of Maya's voice.

Then the melody screeched, a scratched record. Nida rushed down the hill at the cry, but Maya was gone. A bubble beam blasted into existence, sending a tree toppling behind her, and suddenly Maya's arm splashed out of the water, only to be pulled back down by a shiny orange claw.

Nida roared, her throat vibrating with rage. It sent ripples of sound that tore through the water towards the fleeing krabby, knocking it off balance. Bubble beams shot haphazardly around Nida, until one hit her square in the shoulder. She did not budge, accepting the full brunt of the blast while stamping the ground to create a wave of sand. The crest of it rocketed the girl and pokémon into the air, throwing them back onto the beach. The enormous krabby released its attempted meal, but Nida was already upon it. She drove her foot slowly into its head, feeling the shell crunch as the creature writhed and screamed. It snapped at her legs, so she grabbed its claws and began to pull. Her stomp was merciless, growing in intensity until she felt its squishy innards under her foot and the krabby cried no more. She kicked it away.

Maya lay in the sand, coughing out seawater. Scratches and blue welts appeared on her right arm and leg where the krabby had pulled her down, and her eyes and nose stung with salt. Nida tried to hold her, but Maya kept twisting around.

"Where is it? Where is it?!" she said, her eyes darting across the beach.

"Maya, stop," Nida said, struggling with her. "It's gone." She tried wiping Maya's face with her paw, but Maya wriggled away to watch the sea. Dree was slowly hovering towards them from the site of the fallen tree. Her body was also scratched up, and her stones had lost their shine.

"What happened?' Nida said.

"She was just playing and suddenly there's this scream and a bubble beam out of nowhere, and then it all went dark," Dree said, rubbing her head.

"Why didn't you call me? Maya could have been killed," Nida growled.

Dree gave her a look, one eyebrow rising. "Bubble beam. To the face. Hit tree. _Broke_ tree. You wanna to run that by me again?"

Nida growled again, quieter this time. Her adrenaline was waning, and her heart was trying to break through her ribcage and escape. She tried to control herself, but it worsened as Maya's bruises deepened in color before her eyes. "Dree, go and get our supplies. I left them at the top of the hill." Dree did as she was told, so Nida inched towards Maya, who was now sitting in the sand, still staring at the waves. "Maya, you alright?"

The trembling seven-year-old did not answer.

"Are you going to let me take care of those?" Nida said, pointing to the bruises. Maya put out her arm for Nida to see. Dree returned at that moment with the supplies, so Nida went to work bandaging Maya up with strips of cloth.

"Are all pokémon really like that?" Maya said, monotone.

Nida paused from her work. "Not all of them."

Maya turned to glare at Nida. "But most?" Her eyes searched the nidoqueen's.

Nida looked anywhere but those eyes, eyes she had never seen before in a child: ablaze with life, and dead at the same time. "Nowadays…Yes."

Maya nodded, but remained still and quiet after that. When her voice did come back, it had a new, darker sound, the bare hint of a growl. "I want to see it."

Nida's scissors stopped mid-cut. "You sure?"

Maya got up. "It's this way, right?"

The krabby was easily twenty pounds, its pincers almost a foot long. With its body half-buried in the sand, the pincers came out like strange, hard flowers limp with their own weight. Maya watched Nida lift the corpse out of the sand by its claw. She brought it back to the beach, set up a fire with driftwood, and threw the krabby in. Nida had never seen Maya so still.

"How do you feel?" she asked, poking at the flames.

"Mmm," Maya murmured.

"Does it hurt?" said Nida.

"Mmm."

"Are you hungry at all?"

"Mmm."

Nida sighed, exasperated. She put her skewer down and focused on the girl. "The sky's green."

"Mmm." Nida gave up after that, turning the krabby periodically. Its vacant eyes glistened in the flames, its shell popping and sizzling. Nida put a cooked krabby leg in front of Maya, but the girl did not touch it. She served Dree and herself and began to eat. Maya looked down at the krabby leg, to the shimmering eyes in the fire, then to its leg. Suddenly, she grabbed the leg, tore it in half, and bit into the sweet meat. Her body tensed at the flavor, and she thrust the leg up at Nida.

"This is really good!" She pounded the ground with her cup, spilling water into the sand, and bit the leg with renewed fervor.

"I-I'm glad you like it. Do you want some for lunch tomorrow?" Nida asked, eating more slowly. Maya asked for another before taking a ravenous bite. She ate while staring directly into the krabby's dead eyes, making Nida's back prickle. It was like feeding an angry animal. Nida put Maya to bed when they had finished, cocooning her in their blanket. She nuzzled the girl's cheek, and Dree finally spoke.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Dree whispered. Maya's eyes opened, but neither Dree nor Nida noticed.

Nida sighed. "First off, there's none of this _we_. You are going to leave us alone. Maya and I are going to have to find another way around."

"But I like you guys, and look," she picked up an empty krabby leg, "Food. You don't have to go anywhere."

"That krabby was just dumb luck, and it's more than that. We can't stay." Nida scanned the far edge of the beach, following its curve far into the horizon. "We go the long way."

"You won't last three nights. Not without me."

Nida growled, "I have so far," but her eyelids were drooping, dark circles framing them.

"I can keep watch. Nocturnal, remember?"

"Fine," Nida grumbled, "But wake me up if anything, and I mean-"

"Just sleep, dirtwalker. Don't be stubborn."

A small hiss started around them, and Maya shot out of her cocoon. "What was that?"

"It's just the fire dying, Maya. Go back to sleep," Nida said, putting Maya back in her cocoon. She wrapped her armored body around the bundle, and hid herself with the gray tarp.

"Honestly, how'd they survive without me?" Dree mumbled from outside the tarp.

Nida's chest heaved as she controlled herself, her eyes blurring. She held the little girl closer, the youngest and last of their expired group, and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

"What was that?" Melina whispered, as a high-pitched squeal echoed through the forest. She pushed her nidoqueen over. "Nida, wake up!" Dark circles were etched deep under her eyes, and her limbs shook after two days of running from pokémon. "Growly, Azu, everyone wake up!"

A second squeal echoed, softer this time, and Nida's eyes opened. She gave a meaningful look at the baby bundled in Melina's arms. "It's not Maya?"

Melina understood, and shook her head. The baby in her arms was still asleep, but restless, wriggling her fists free from the blanket cocooning her. The squeals continued around them. Melina counted her pokémon.

"Three, four…Five. Wait, where's Chan-chan?" The group shook their heads, looking out into the forest. "We have to stick together, guys. I can't lose you, too." The youngest of the pokémon, Bulba, wrapped his vine around Melina's hand.

"We can't call out for her, we'll attract attention. I'll go for her myself," Nida told the pokémon, arms crossed. She put her claw to her lips so that Melina would also understand, and started off into the forest.

"Where are you going?" Melina called, "Are you going to go look for her?"

"Chaaaaaaan!" Before Nida could nod, the pink ball staggered into the clearing, her feet flopping over one another, sweat beading off her body.

Behind her, the squeals were growing clearer.

"Everyone behind me!" Melina shouted, but her pokémon growled in protest and got in front. Nida put her paw on Melina's shoulders, moving her hand over her child's head. Their eyes met, and Melina reluctantly nodded.

"Azu, what have you got?" Nida said.

Azu's long ears twitched. "Weedle. Twenty-five, thirty maybe. In the branches."

"But they're supposed to be tame." The cry around them intensified to an ear-splitting screech.

"Everyone, I want a barrier, got that?" Nida shouted over the noise, "Azu, water gun. Chansey, protect. Ros, I want you inside with Chansey and Melina."

"Hell no!" Ros said, "I'm fighting!"

A growl formed in Nida's throat. "Ros, not now. You're grass, they're bugs. End of story."

"But I can take them!"

"Growly!" Nida turned to the dog.

"What?"

A hard glint came into Nida's eye. "Roast them." The growlith's teeth flashed.

"They're coming!" Azumarill's tail tensed. A green sphere shimmered into existence.

"I can take them, let me help, dammit!" Ros pressed against the barrier.

The swarm of weedle lunged from the trees, into high-pressured streams of water, beams of light, and fountains of flame. A rain of minced and charred bug thumped against the shield, making Chansey wince.

"Chansey, concentrate!" Ros said, looking out at the battle. Whole minutes passed. The barrage of weedle had already gone past fifty, and another fifty pink eyes loomed in the darkness.

"I'm sorry, Nida," Azumarill gasped, "I can't keep firing."

"Chansey, let me out! They need help!"

"There's…too many," Melina's heart sank, watching the green sphere slowly begin to flicker as Chansey's breath turned heavy. Melina curled over her child.

"Wait, Azu!" Melina cried, "Get all the trees wet!" Nida's eyes widened at the idea.

"Do it!" Nida yelled.

The water gun turned into a fountain, rocketing high into the air and plummeting in a misty rainstorm.

"Widen the sphere, Chansey," Nida commanded, "Everyone, inside."

"She can't, Nida!" Melina said over the rain. The Weedle readied to lunge in unison.

"She has to," Nida roared, and a blinding thunderbolt exploded from her horn, ricocheting from tree to tree. The weedle lunged. An ear-piercing chorus of screeches, then silence. The white light faded.

Chansey's protect was gone.

"Weeeedle…" The sigh was quiet, a murmur in their midst.

"Ros? Ros!" Nida pulled the bug out of Roselia's abdomen, crushing it, but Ros didn't respond. He was already swelling, unable to speak as sticky strings coated his throat and nose.

"I let it go too quickly, I let it go," Chansey whimpered. Ros's eyes met Nida's, pleading.

"Don't, don't make me, Ros," Nida shook her head, her voice cracking, "Please."

Melina's voice quavered. "What? Nida, what's wrong with him?" Ros grimaced in pain as his stomach's lining began to stretch and tear. Nida tried to harden herself.

"Move away from him, ok?" The forest, for the first time, was completely silent as the pokémon moved.

Melina knees gave. "No, don't, Nida, Nida, please," She strained against Bulba's vines. "Don't!"

The electricity surged, and she fired.


	4. Nothing to Spare

Nida's mind, against her will, lingered on the roselia as they gathered their belongings and began to journey northwest and around the bay. Ros had died seven years ago, the first link to break in the chain that connected Melina to sanity. Nida had raked her claws through his dust, barely aware of Melina's accusing screams, the fists pounding at her shoulders, the nails digging at her underbelly and the baby crying. They'd fled and left him there, a tiny mound of pulverized charcoal without a headstone. Nida's eyes scanned the barren flatlands they were crossing now, a land once filled with forests and life. She wouldn't be able to recognize the spot.

"Nida, I see a house!" Maya tugged on Nida's claw and pointed into the distance. Along the horizon, the sunlight reflected off a rough, dark shape, piercing through the dusty haze. It was a set of large wooden structures. Parts of the roof and walls were missing, the wood singed and weathered. Gray stone and painted clay littered the site. A small group of purple pokémon appeared from the ruins and began to approach en masse. Their fur was matted with large patches missing.

"That's a house, right, Nida?" Maya said.

Nida's brow furrowed, and she sighed low, remembering where she was. "No, Maya. That _was_ a dojo." She put Maya and Dree behind her as the venonat reached them, all of them pushing one to the forefront.

"What are you doing here?" the pushed venonat said. It gestured with its paw, "What do you want from us?"

"Anything you can spare," Nida said. She held Maya closer. The venonat buzzed amongst themselves. Their large eyes stared at Nida's towering from, and pushed their emissary forward.

"Wuh-we have nothing," the venonat said, "You will leave now."

"Liiiiars," Dree said, peeking out from behind Nida to glare. "Just took out a couple rattata all by themselves."

"You…will leave now," the venonat shook its head.

"What's going on?" Maya came out from behind Nida's leg.

"We don't mean to be in your territory," Nida said, "We'll go now."

Dree popped out as well, "Aww, come on, Needy, you can totally take a few little venonat!"

Nida ignored the ghost. "How far until the border?" she called to the pokémon, "Is there any neutral territory left around here?" But the venonat did not respond. Every eye was fixed on Maya, their antennae swaying. As a group, their feet took a step towards the girl. Nida growled low, and the venonat finally noticed the bared teeth of the beast.

"Please don't make this bloody," she said.

"We did not…we are sorry. This is your meal?" the lead venonat said. He looked at his paws. "It is very beautiful." The other venonat continued to stare.

"Hey!" Maya put her hands on her hips. "I'm not-"

Nida put her paw over Maya's mouth. "Neutral territory. How far?"

The venonat pointed beyond the dojo to a small set of dead trees miles away. He avoided looking at Maya. "Go. We will not bother you. Be there by nightfall, please."

"Come on." Nida grabbed Dree by the hair and Maya by the hand and pulled them towards the checkpoint, still feeling the eyes of the venonat at Maya's back.

"What was that all about?" Dree said.

"Nothing," Nida looked straight ahead, "Let's just get ourselves to those trees, ok?"

"But it was weeeeeird! Same as me, when we first met. Right, Squeak?"

Maya didn't answer, grumbling and intermittently stamping her feet. "I am not food."

"Squeak, you're killing me here." Dree flew in front of Nida, "You at least have to admit, she's like some hypno…kid…thing!"

Nida raised her eyebrow at the ghost pokémon, then snorted.

"I'm serious!"

"The only thing weird about Maya is that she somehow likes you," Nida said. Dree hummed, floating over to rest on Nida's head. The nidoqueen swatted her away. As the sun's final rays lit the desolate world in oranges and reds, they reached the cluster of trees. Long, spindly shadows stretched from their feet eastward to the road ahead of them. They set up camp without a fire, to avoid attention, and ate the leftover krabby meat. Nida took a chance with the flashlight to go over the torn-up map once more, trying to pinpoint other possible territories to avoid. She erased the line she'd drawn on the map and racked her memories, drawing a new path around potential danger zones. Their straight path up the peninsula now looked like a wriggling worm. It would add two more days at least to their travel time. Nida cursed under her breath.

"What's wrong?" Dree said.

"It's not important. This is just so much more difficult than it -" Nida's ears perked up at the sound of heavy, stamping footsteps in the distance. "Maya, Dree, put everything away. We need to move." Within a few moments they were packed up and on their way, treading farther into the darkness of a cloud-covered sky.

"You should be sooo happy right now," Dree said as she bobbed up and down in front of them. "Without my night vision you wouldn't see a thing!"

"Just be quiet and pay attention," Nida whispered, gripping Maya's hand tighter. "Wait a second." She grabbed the girl and hoisted on her back. The thudding of footsteps was getting closer.

"What's the matter, is just a few nocturnal pokémon about their daily business," Dree said.

"That footstep isn't nocturnal."

"And how would you-"

"I'm sure of it. Move, Dree."

"But where ya goin', sweetheart?" A rough, rumbling voice came from behind them. Nida breathed deep, put Maya down, and turned to face four massive rhydon. They nudged each other and snickered. The laugh was like the sound of rock crumbling down a cave wall just before the roof collapses. She put Maya behind her as the rhydon who spoke approached.

"Well ain't you the pretty mama?" he chuckled. The rhydon swaggered forward. Blood was dripping like spittle out of his mouth. He smelled like freshly spewed stomach acid, mixed with charcoal and soot, and his eyes were bloodshot. "See you got yerself a snack," he said, as Maya strode out from behind Nida's leg, "You doin' alright fer yerself?"

"Maya, stay behind me," Nida said, pulling her back. The three other rhydon began to stumble up to them.

"Aww, we don' mean no harm, honey," the second rhydon said. He was also stained with blood, on his breastplate. "But a sweet gal like yourself shouldn' be out by her lonesome."

"She needs a maaale," the third said.

"An' look, she's got four delicious hunks and a meal fer later right here!" The rhydon began to snicker and hoot.

"Yeah," the first said, "Hows'bout you stay for a while? Come back to our hole?"

Nida couldn't help herself. "And do what exactly?"

"Have a good time, baby! You ain't as pretty as somma the younger mommas back there but you'll do fine." He took a step forward. Nida's scales bristled and oozed poison. She growled, stepping back.

"I wan' first dibs!"

"Now, now, we're all gentlemon here," the first rhydon said, grinning, "We'll flip for first turn."

"Touch me and I rip both horns off," Nida growled, baring her teeth and claws. The rhydon continued to close in.

"Ooh, she's feisty, I love that," the fourth Rhydon snickered.

Nida's head turned from left to right, trying to find an escape route even though she knew her pride wouldn't let her run. She could feel Maya's arms wrapped around her leg and the brush of Dree's body against her tail, both quivering. No, that was her, she was shaking. Why was she shaking?

"Ah, look, she's scared. Come here, honey…"

"Now that's enough!" The roar came from behind the rhydon. Nida's breath caught. A rhyperior pushed the rhydon away, and placed himself in front of Nida. He was a towering nine feet tall, and cleaner than the others. He smiled at her. "I'm sorry for that," he said to her, "Did those idiots bother you?"

"Yeah, thanks," Nida breathed.

"What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Oh, uh, Nida, but we need to go now."

"Well, it's my pleasure to meet you, Nida," the rhyperior said, "Now, lemme just get rid of them for you."

He turned back to the rhydon behind him. "Nida don't want your dirty mugs!" He flashed a smile, brandishing his arms in the air. "She wants the gun show."

Nida's paw went to her face. She pulled at her ears and breathed out. "I don't think you understand." She paused at each word for emphasis. "I don't want to mate with you."

The rhyperior squared its shoulders, staring at her. It narrowed its eyes and scoffed. "Nah, honey, I understand perfect. You're dry and dead now, ain't ya? No one but your king back home is good enough?"

Nida's eyes twitched. Her voice was cold steel. "You don't know anything about me."

"Oh yeah? I see you don't eat her," the rhyperior said, pointing to Maya. He gestured for the rhydon to come closer, as the nudged each other like prepubescent males. "Is she yer baby or somethin'? Or are you just a bitter, old, never-been-touched bitch?"

"Oh, come on, Nida," Dree appeared in front of the Rhyperior's nose, "You're not gonna take that, are you?"

The rhyperior sneered, and flicked at Dree, who disappeared. Nida cracked her knuckles in one hand, fingering the air, but did nothing. The rhyperior smiled and waited. Eventually, she sighed.

"Let's just go," she said. She grabbed Maya's hand and turned.

The smile faded, and sound of grating rock came from behind her as the rhyperior mashed its teeth. "Hey, I ain't finished with you!" Nida began to walk towards the east, Maya in tow, as the rhydon grumbled amongst themselves.

Dree appeared beside her, brow furrowed. "You're just letting them go?"

"I'm not gonna waste my time killing them. They're just idiots." Nida said, head low.

"One last question," the rhyperior called out. "Is that whole girl gonna fatten you up for winter, or can we take a limb or two?"

Nida's head spun round. "Is that a threat?"

"Nah, honey, we just don' like that stick up your ass. You gotta learn to share."

Nida's muscles tensed. She turned to Dree and whispered. Dree hummed in agreement, landed on Maya's head, and turned them both invisible.

The rhyperior grabbed a rock from the ground, as the stone in his arm began to shift. "An' bein' fine gentlemon an' all," he continued, "We're gonna help you with that." The rhyperior reeled his arm back. Nida rolled her shoulders out. Her eyes closed and scrunched together, forcing her breath out her nose. She waited for him to fire, Ros's pleading eyes forcing themselves into her mind. Of all the times, it had to be now.

She imagined the piston scraping through the rhyperior's arm to the stone in his hand. She imagined it pressing against the stone's surface, leaving a small scorch mark. She actually heard the crack of the contact between piston and projectile, and the air streaming past the stone as it came to meet her. She opened her eyes.

Nida's arm flew out, glowing white, and made contact with the stone. Cracks and crevices jolted through it, instantaneously crumbling it into pebbles and sand. She stepped through the remaining dust cloud, keeping an eye on her opponents. They didn't move.

"Run that by me again." Her eyes were trained on the rhyperior, who was still mashing his teeth. The rhyperior rushed to pick up another two stones as Nida walked towards him, arms down. He fired both, but Nida spun, stopping them with a swing of her tail, never breaking her stride.

"You threatened Maya's safety," she said. She had gotten close enough to look them in the eyes, eyes that finally registered the chill forming around her horn. "I suggest you run." The rhyperior stood its ground, teeth flashing as he grabbed another stone, but the rhydon fidgeted, looking at each other.

"Whatcha gonna do? Stare us to death?" the rhyperior laughed.

Nida let a growl escape her lips, releasing the icy blast from her horn. Tendrils of blue lightning passed from left to right, hitting each of the rhydon in turn. Ice shot out from their torsos, flash-freezing them in place, one in mid-turn. The rhyperior looked at his posse, then at the ice creeping up his own spine, down his arms and legs and through his pistons. He roared, but the ice muffled it into a groan. Nida let the chill finish its work, and then casually moved in front of the rocky icicle.

"I gave you a chance, I really did," Nida said, "Because… I don't want to do this." She began to pace beyond the rhyperior towards the rhydon, flexing her fingers in swirling patterns above her head. The clouds rumbled as she stopped in front of one rhydon. "But, but if I let you thaw out, and you live, you're just going to come after us." She put her paws on the next rhydon's shoulders, forcing herself to look into his eyes, nodding to herself. "You won't stop."

Nida circled back around, knowing in the back of her mind they probably couldn't even hear her. "Even if you die right now, someone'll find your bodies eventually. I, I can't have that. I'm sorry, I just can't." The clouds were thick enough now, dark and voluminous. Tiny ripples of light danced across them.

Nida looked back the five faces frozen in place, frozen in fear. "Beg me to stop." Her voice was shaking. "Please."

Her paws balled into fists at her sides. "Fight for it, dammit!"

No response. There would be none. She turned and strode out a few hundred feet, calling out for Dree and Maya to join her. When they finally appeared, she muffled Maya's ears and eyes as best she could with the blanket, and looked back at the slowly thawing pokémon. She told Dree to cover her ears, and lifted her paw and let it drop.

In that instant, the darkness of night was taken over by a different blindness, a piercing white that washed over the land, choking it in light and silence. As it faded, the column of electricity that had fallen at Nida's command revealed miles of craggy terrain, shaking and groaning in protest. The resounding blast then broke through. It impacted against the eardrum like a charging rhyhorn, without purpose or knowledge of its own destruction, rushing to every ear, in every direction. As Nida's ears rung, the sky returned to darkness. Phantom lights flashed before her eyes as they adjusted, blocking the site of the strike from view.

"I need to be sure," she told Dree. Dree nodded, still in shock, and watched her head back to the rhydon.

Now a few feet away, Nida could see nothing but black. The charred earth spread from the center point of the blast like a sunburst, piles of charcoal and ash spreading in waves. Nothing remained of the five frozen bodies, save for five little mounds of charcoal that were already being blown down by the wind that had kicked up.

Nida's paws closed into fists again, her claws pricking the soft flesh underneath them. Unable to contain it, she emptied her lungs, and roared into the darkness. It dried out her throat and throbbed in her temples, pulling energy from her shaking limbs until she'd lost all the air. Dizzy, she swayed from side to side, eventually finding her way out and back to Dree and Maya. The girl and ghost stood still as she approached, both wide-eyed and quiet. Nida ignored them, and grabbed their pack. She looked to the east, where the darkness still loomed, putting Maya on her back, willing herself to keep marching.

"Go to sleep Maya," Nida said.

The small girl's eyes focused on the back of Nida's head, her voice barely a whisper. "Yes, ma'am." Nida flinched at the noun, a word only used when she was punished, and never with Nida.

Maya swallowed, and spoke in the same whisper. "Um, Nida?"

Nida tried to maintain a monotone. "Yes, Maya?"

"Were they dead?"

Nida bit her lip. "They aren't going to hurt you, honey. I'm always going to protect you."

"But are they dead?" The girl's small hands shook Nida's shoulder.

"Yeah," the nidoqueen mumbled.

The child let go of her shoulder. She laid her head on the back of Nida's own, eyes forced closed. Dree waited about a half hour into the walk before speaking, when Maya's soft snores could be heard.

"Can I be honest?" she said.

Nida hesitated, the five mounds of charcoal spinning in her head. "Maybe."

"That…was frickin' awesome."

Nida's face twisted in disgust, darkening. "No. No it was not."

"Yeah, I know, but seriously, you kicked-"

"Please," she said, "Please, just don't."

"Alright, alright," Dree said, swinging in the air closer to Nida, "I just need to know one thing."

Nida hissed, her voice like knives. "You don't _need_ to know anything."

"Hey! I'm guiding you around, helping you out, and I'm curious, sue me." The ghost turned away, tendrils of hair crossed in front of her, but then let them fall and came closer. "I just kinda wanna know who I'm with."

Nida gritted her teeth. "Fine, one question. Shoot."

Dree floated quietly beside her for a few moments, hesitating. Finally, she spoke. "What, um, did he mean when he…you know, called you…"

"Dry?" Nida's mouth dried as she said the word. Dree nodded. Nida thought about it. She ran her paws against her face, letting them clasp and rest over her head, and turned to Dree. "When nidorina evolve into nidoqueen, they become infertile. I evolved pretty early, so I never got the chance to…"

"Have kids?" Dree said.

Nida groaned, "Yes, Dree."

"Oh…I'm sorry," she said.

Nida shook her head. "I have Maya. She's the closest thing I've got."


End file.
